The Fox, the Gunner, and the Atlas!
by PouncingTiger
Summary: Just a one-shot based on Kitsune and Eluur. (If you've never read Teruul's "Race for One Piece," you won't understand any of this.)


**Attention: If you've never read Teruul's Race for One Piece, you will not understand any of this. Also, I seriously advise that you do yourself a favor and read the story. Believe me, you'll love it! Everything here is based on Teruul's story and I don't take credit for any of it!**

**Okay, so I'm obviously a fan of R4OP and I'm also a big shipper for KitsunexEluur. I think they have really fun chemistry, in the same sort of way that Roa and Lance do. One day while at work, I get this random idea of a scene for Kitsune and Eluur, and with approval from Teruul, I have put my idea to MicrosoftWord. I hope you'll enjoy it. It's my first attempt at anything even remotely romantical.**

**Enjoy~**

"The Fox, the Gunner, and the Atlas! A Dangerous Chemistry!"

Kitsune hummed contently as his gaze trailed the starry night sky above. He silently noted the countless twinkling stars above, the luminescent moon, the few dark clouds of the night, and the gentle ocean breeze as he lay sprawled out in the crow's nest. Absently, his hand stroked the hilt of Hebi Kotei and his lips nearly twitched down in a frown as he noted just how bored he was.

It was his night to be on watch duty, and the white-haired swordsman had been doing just about anything except scanning the horizon for potential threats. All for the sake of deterring the eventual boredom that came with the job. There was absolutely no one or nothing around to entertain him. Everyone had long since retired for the night, leaving Kitsune out on Atlas alone with nothing but his sword and the stars to keep him company.

A smile tugged at his lips as he silently recalled his attempts at warding off the inevitable job, complaining incessantly at first for the pure sake of annoying the crew and then he'd even attempted "falling asleep" at one point in hopes that Atalaya would just consider him a lost cause and choose someone else for the job. Of course, the captain hadn't been fooled for a second and had casually slugged Kitsune in his shoulder to get him to wake up.

_"__Everyone has to do their part, Kitsune!"_ he could remember her saying with that casual air of command around her. _"Even you! So quit complaining or else you'll be on watch for the next three nights too!"_

And with that, the swordsman had been resigned to what he considered to be the most boring job on the ship. Still, it left him with plenty of time to contemplate how to get back at Atalaya. She had to have known that Kitsune wasn't going to accept an order like this without some kind of backlash, right?

Just as the Crimson Fox had begun brainstorming a variety of pranks and/or misdeeds that would irk Atalaya to no end, he caught the faintest sound of humming. His brow arched in a bit of surprise, believing that all of his crew had long since gone to bed, and he sat up in the crow's nest to look down to the deck. He was shocked even further to find their cook seated by Atlas's railing with what looked to be his guns in front of him as he polished them. Upon further observation, Kitsune noted that it was none other than Eluur, the flamboyant glasses giving the hot-headed gunner away easily.

A smile of inhuman proportions pulled at Kitsune's lips as he finally found himself a source of entertainment, and who better than Gunny?

Kitsune descended from the crow's nest deftly, moving to Atlas's deck as silently as possible. The whole time, Eluur was far too enthralled in the polishing of his prized weapons to even notice the encroaching presence, making Kitsune's smile stretch that much more as he moved closer.

Just when the swordsman had moved into range to scare the daylights out of the gunner though, he froze in his tracks when Eluur tilted Rosa just perfectly for Kitsune to catch the man's eyes watching him through the reflection of the gun. A moment passed where they just froze there, Eluur watching Kitsune through the reflection while Kitsune smiled deviously back at the gunner.

Finally, Eluur seemed to roll his eyes and growl out, "The hell are you doing down here, asshole? Shouldn't you be watching out for enemy ships or something?"

"Aww, ya caught me, Gunny," he crooned in response, bursting with a joyful cackle when Eluur huffed in irritation. Kitsune moved over to the railing then, leaning against the wood in just the position to be caught in the gunner's peripheral vision. Eluur tossed him a quick glare, earning a widening smile from Kitsune. "Watcha doin'?"

"You didn't answer my question first," was Eluur's scathing reply as he turned away and went back to casually polishing Rosa, pausing only for a moment to hold the weapon in the moon light and watch as the gun glistened.

Kitsune watched Eluur for a long moment, secretly enjoying the evil smirk that pulled at the gunner's lips as he watched the deadly weapon shine like one of the world's greatest treasures. "What's ta fun 'n lookin fer a ship when I can just cut 'em down when they get here?" he mused finally. Eluur snorted in reply, bringing yet another mischievous grin to Kitsune's face. "Don'tcha think ya should answer mine now?" he questioned when silence had fallen over them both.

"Oh, you really wanted an answer? I thought it was pretty self-explanatory," Eluur responded. He turned for the briefest of moments to give Kitsune a pretentious look, another snort rolling from him as he noted the ever present grin on the man's face. He then turned back to his job, sitting Rosa down and then picking up Beauty to give her the pampering that she deserved. "I'm polishing my weapons, idiot," he grumbled after a moment. "Between cooking for all of you and whatever chaos typically ensues with us on a daily basis, I nor Ruule have much time to do this during the day. Besides, there's something about shining Rosa and Beauty under the glow of the moon that gives them an ethereal appearance." He lifted Beauty into the moonlight then, as he'd did Rosa moments ago, and allowed the gun to shine with that same dangerous, yet majestic glow that made his lips curl up in a hungry grin. "They're like goddesses, one of strength and the other of splendor, and they both shine like the deities they are at night, absorbing the moonlight to glow with that maleficent aura." Eluur enjoyed the glow of Beauty for a few more moments, completely entrapped in the shine of his weapon, before he remembered whose presence he was in and rolled his eyes in annoyance. "But I suppose you wouldn't understand anything about that, now would you?" he mused, pausing once more to look back over at Kitsune.

For his part, the swordsman had remained surprisingly sated through Eluur's statement, even somewhat entertained at how the man spoke of his weapons. It was almost exactly the same way Kitsune viewed Hebi Kotei. "I get where yer coming from, Gunny," he responded casually, ignoring the curious lift of the brow from Eluur. "There's just an exhilaration in watching yer own weapon glisten and shine as if it were the best tool in the world because in yer hands it is the best. And when ya get that moment to put it to the ultimate test, there's nothing better than watching yer weapon cut down enemy after enemy, as if it were a god smitin' peasants. In fact, there's nothing I like more than seeing Hebi Kotei covered in ta blood of my enemies. That's when she looks ta best to me."

Eluur actually cracked a smirk in Kitsune's direction, a feral grin shared between two killers with an obvious understanding of one another. "A crimson blade for the Crimson Fox, I suppose," he mused with a chuckle and turned back to finishing his polishing session with Beauty. "Red does look good on you, though," he said once more after another brief pause. "It gives you a certain…dramatic flair." The gunner continued polishing Beauty then, absently nodding his head as he did so, silently agreeing with himself on the understanding of Kitsune, but soon the silence between the crewmates drug out for much longer than Eluur had expected.

Though he didn't stop his polishing, Eluur turned back to Kitsune, wondering why the swordsman had stopped speaking all of a sudden, but when he looked, his whole body unconsciously froze. He watched as if caught in a trance as Kitsune looked back at him, actually looking with both eyes open as the red irises raked over Eluur's sitting body. A long, awkward moment passed between the two, with Eluur stunned into submission upon catching the swordsmen's eyes.

"W-what are you doing?" Eluur finally said, eventually catching his voice, though the nervousness in it was palpable. The swordsman lifted a brow in curiosity at Eluur's words, making the gunner lose whatever nervousness he had in place of a flare of annoyance. "Don't look at me as if I'm crazy, you asshole! Why the hell are your eyes open? Your eyes are never open!" he demanded.

Another of Kitsune's patented and completely inhuman smiles wrapped around his face as he watched the anxiety-stricken anger flare in Eluur. "Maybe I just like lookin' at ya, Gunny?" he crooned tantalizingly, the words doing nothing to ease Eluur's state of mind.

And if that wasn't enough to wear on the gunman's nerves, Kitsune took a step forward, his eyes still open and looking right into Eluur's.

"Wh-where the hell are you going?" the hot-headed cook barked, absently easing back a bit as Kitsune continued moving forward.

"Maybe I like lookin at ya a lot," Kitsune continued, smirking like a madman as he moved to stand right above Eluur's nervous body. Ever so casually, he squatted down, his eyes completely locked with Eluur's, his smile still in place as he lowered to the gunman's eye level. "Don'tcha want me to look at ya?" he crooned softly and edged forward, his face moving right for Eluur's. Kitsune pretended not to enjoy how the gunman's Adam's apple bobbed nervously and how the man looked on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and instead allowed himself to enjoy the faint warmth of his breath as their faces drew closer.

However, Kitsune was halted a mere inch from Eluur's face when he felt cold metal press into his throat. His eyes flicked down to the gun Eluur was now holding at his neck before his smirk nearly split his face in two and he looked back into the eyes of the gunman, who looked just about ready to spit nails.

Eluur sneered into Kitsune's face like a rabid dog and pushed the gun just a bit deeper into the man's skin as his finger rested precariously on the trigger. "I don't know what you have planned, asshole, but try anything funny on me and I won't hesitate to blo – oohhhh!"

The gunman's words were cut off way before the threat could be completed, his whole mind going haywire as he felt the warmth of Kitsune's tongue slide across his top lip. Eluur's eyes widened from the unexpected and definitely unwanted groan that poured from his mouth, and fought with all that he had to not blush as he caught a twinkle of humor dance in Kitsune's red eyes, but he knew that he'd failed miserably when the damnable heat crawled up his cheeks. The gun that he'd been holding at Kitsune's throat was just about ready to fall from Eluur's hands as he and Kitsune locked eyes once more, but before either could make another move, the voice of Roa broke their trance.

"Fox face! How the hell are you watching out for enemy ships when you're down here?!" the archer called, appearing out on deck with a sleepy, yet grouchy look on his face.

Kitsune was back on his feet in a heartbeat, his eyes shutting closed immediately as he turned to their navigator. He only barely felt thankful that he and Eluur had been sitting in such a way that they hadn't looked to be doing anything unseemly in the eyes of Roa. Either that, or Roa was still too sleepy to have noticed anything suspicious.

"Just felt like messin with Gunny is all," he crooned joyfully, laughing out loud when Roa shook his head in exasperation.

"And what if we were to get attacked while you were messing with Eluur?" he asked in returned, arms folding as if chiding a child.

A mischievous smile tugged at the swordsman's lips as he lifted a questioning brow and turned to look down at Eluur, who still looked quite shell shocked from the brief moment seconds ago. "I'm certain that Gunny and I could handle it. Isn't that right, Gunny?" he mused, his smile widening even further when Eluur simply sat there, absently nodding his head as he looked anywhere except at Kitsune and Roa.

The archer lifted a curious brow between their first mate and cook, but decided he was far too sleepy to be concerned with whatever they obviously had going on. With a yawn and quick stretch of his back, he said, "Well, I'd feel better if you were in the crow's nest where you could let all of us know about any possible threats ahead of time, fox face. So, would you mind?" He nodded over to the crow's nest pointedly for Kitsune to get the hint.

Smile still glued to his face, Kitsune began walking over in the direction. "Since ya askin so nice and all, I guess I'll go back up," he crooned. "But ya should really go back to bed, blondie. Ya shouldn't miss a minute of yer beauty sleep." Another cackle rolled from Kitsune's mouth as Roa just glared at him.

"Just get back up to the damn crow's nest," the blonde grumbled in reply and turned away from both the swordsman and the gunner. "And don't stay up too late, Eluur! No telling what kind of hell we'll be in for tomorrow!" he called once more before making his way to the men's quarters of the ship.

Roa's parting call worked to pull Eluur out of whatever trance Kitsune had put him in and he blinked away the shock to look up and see Roa gone and Kitsune casually strolling away as if they hadn't been on the verge of…something moments ago. He was about ready to call the bastard out and maybe even try a little target practice for Kitsune getting him all worked up, but then the swordsman stopped walking for the briefest of moments to look back at him.

One red eye was open as it focused in on Eluur, the view alone of the typically private irises working to fluster the gunman once more. But it was a fleeting sight as Kitsune simply winked at Eluur, saying, "See ya round, Gunny," before turning back to his casual trek back up to the crow's nest.

And with Kitsune gone back to his job and their annoying distraction gone as well, Eluur huffed angrily and turned back to Beauty and Rosa, inwardly contemplating if he wanted shoot off his frustrations for a little while, only to decide against it for the sake of not waking the entire ship with his anger. Instead, he picked Beauty back up, setting back to his polishing, only this time putting just a bit more pressure than needed as he rubbed on the weapon with enough annoyance to peel off the silver.

"Stupid Crimson Fox, bastard," he grumbled beneath his breath as he continued his violent polishing. "Yeah, you will see me around alright! And next time, I'll be the one leaving you with a boner!"


End file.
